Special school abuse Royal Commission: Mother tells of son's nightmares and behavioural changes

By Candice Marcus
ABC News
March 17, 2014

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22022083/special-school-abuse-royal-commission-mother-tells-of-sons-nightmares-and-behavioural-changes/

Bus driver Brian Perkins died in prison in 2009.

The mother of an intellectually disabled boy abused by paedophile bus driver Brian Perkins has broken down on the witness stand at a royal commission hearing in Adelaide.

The woman's son was one of many intellectually disabled boys molested by Perkins while they were students of St Ann's Special School, run by the Catholic Church.

Perkins was not jailed until more than a decade after the abuse, and died in jail in 2009.

He already had a criminal record for sexual abuse when he began working at St Ann's Special School, and sexually abused up to 30 boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Many of the other parents whose children were molested by Perkins did not find out until years later, the inquiry was told.

The abused boy's mother said she was told during a meeting with the school and police to keep the abuse confidential.

In a statement tendered to the royal commission, the mother said her son, who has Down's syndrome, became "very fearful to get on Mr Perkins' bus".

"It came to a point where he would not even leave the house," she said.

She said her son attended three sleepovers with Mr Perkins.

She said he became withdrawn after each one, and after the third sleepover he became self-abusive, punching and hitting himself in the legs.

"If someone came to our home, he would run to the house and hide," she said.

"He would either hide under his bed or in his wardrobe.

"He continues to suffer periods of depression and also suffers from flashbacks and nightmares.

"The abuse inflicted by Mr Perkins on my son has shattered our family's lives."

The mother said her son's academic ability also declined. She said the family were forced to move house and move the boy to a new school.

"He would refer to Brian as 'the bad man, the naughty man'," she said.

Another victim, who is now an adult, tendered a statement to the commission in which he described having his genitals tied up while he was beaten and sexually assaulted by Perkins and another man.

He told counsel assisting the inquiry, Sophie David, the abuse made him feel "very angry, upset, [with] mood swings."

In the statement tendered to the royal commission he also described holding a knife to Perkins' face after becoming upset.

"I could have killed him but I decided not to because I thought I might get into trouble and go to jail so I put the knife back," he said.

The commission hearing continues.